Just the random thoughts of a single white Anglo-Saxon Protestant male on the world at large, with particular regard to science, politics, economics, baseball and the Huskers, of course.
EMAIL: kalthalior@excite.com

Friday, November 09, 2007

A nice run down of the two leading candidates for the soon to be vacated Husker HC job, Mark (Bo) Pelini and Turner Gill at HuskerExtra. While a number of other coaches have been mentioned (Wake's Jim Grobe, Navy's Paul Johnson, & TCU's Gary Patterson are the most notable) these are the two that have everyone in the state the most excited about.

Gill is 6-16 in two seasons at Buffalo, but 4-6 (4-2 in conference) this season with the school's first wins over conference programs like Toledo and Akron, and defeated his former boss Frank Solich with a win against Ohio. Buffalo had been 10-69 over the last seven seasons at Division 1-A. Gill has shown a great deal of offensive flexibility - running elements of the West Coast offense, spread option and power I. He run series with four wideouts and a tailback followed by two tight end sets with a fullback. He would likely bring DC Jimmy Williams and D-Line Coach Toby Williams, both former Huskers, along with him for his staff if hired.

Since leaving NU, Bo Pelini has been DC at Oklahoma (co-DC w/ Brent Venables in 2004)and LSU (2005 to current), and the teams he's coached have combined for a 51-9 record - including 2004's 10-3 year at NU. His defensive teams have finished no lower than 11th in Total Defense as a coordinator, including this season's #2 ranking. He would likely bring in at least former Husker (and coach) Marvin Sanders, with whom he apparently remains close friends with after the 2004 season at NU, and the article also states he would be interested in three other unnamed individuals with NU ties. Tom Rathman, anyone? He is also said to favor a spread option type attack offensively.